Moveable Feast Cafe 2018/02/13 … Open Thread

2018/02/13 07:30:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of the issues of the day.

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My comment on the one by Ilan Pappe an Israeli dissident professor. Since the issue of Jewishness and Judaism as a religion is so controversial, I thought i would present my own views for whatever abuse or concurrence people have. Forgive this admittedly random rambling…chalk it up to stream of consciousness.

As someone raised as a reform Jew, I was not taught Jewish exceptionalism, but rather universal values of humankind common to all peoples, the idea that what happened in WWII should not be allowed to any group of people. However, my synagogue, which did not require head coverings for men, placed it outside mainstream Jewry, so I guess, on thinking about it, that we were considered Goyim, which proves the point of antisemitism.

“the biggest cause of anti semitism is anti goyim-ism.”

On the other hand, my mother told me that when a couple from the midwest rented a room in my grandmother’s house, they were surprised to find that Jews did not have horns.

From my point of view, there is mutual animosity. Who started it is like asking about a fight in the playground. Egos clinging to their own version of Truth, and demanding compliance or else. It’s a recipe for conflict. I will probably be pounded by stones from both sides for this. The solution is mutual forgiveness.

As a child going to a Zionist summer camp, and the founding of Israel and the propaganda surrounding it, I bought into the narrative for awhile. But the idea of Jewish victimhood sounded fishy to me. Plus, the cosmology of modern physics made more sense to me than a religious cosmology.

After university, I went to California, to study Zen. When I returned from California and told my father’s uncle–my grand uncle–I had been in a Zen monastery, he told me I faced spiritual annihilation if I left the fold, so to speak. I thanked him, left and never looked back.

It took the internet, though, to give me a much better historical understanding of the place of Judaism and the relationship of monotheistic religions to each other and the rest of humanity.

Ilan Pappe makes an excellent point which I thought about, long before reading this article. The Zionists taught secularism and most Israelis don’t believe in God. But they think God gave them the right to possess Palestine. So the whole narrative is based on Double think. Most Israelis I have met, with a few exceptions, buy into their paradoxical narrative. It’s just about impossible to have a discussion with them.

Anyway, there is always hope, however, not much.

A friend of mine just came back to Thailand where I live, from a business trip to the US. On arrival he was grilled by immigration, even with a US passport, and they demanded documentation of his residential address —in Thailand! and even his social security card,which is probably 65 years old if it even still exists.

Years ago, I read that the US hired a former KGB agent to structure the Dept of Homeland Security, so now, with the introduction of chipped state drivers licenses, interstate travel appears to be headed in the direction of restricted freedom of movement.

I am finding more people here in Thailand have broken through the Matrix, and many say that it’s impossible to talk with old family and friends back in the US. If the vast majority still buy into “Russia=USSR=Evil” and “Palestinians are dogs”, the problem is not getting better. Some American Jews do see the problem that Israel has created, the question is whether they have enough collective momentum to reverse the Neocon warmongers. Pappe’s article is from a website in the USA.

The UK hired the second-in-command of the Stasi (chap below Woolf whose name escapes me and has now been expunged from the net) when the Berlin Wall came down. The writing was on the wall, so to speak, then.

Thanks, one minion, there is a reason why we are all here at the Saker blog seeking respite from the Anglo. Zionists.

If one does a detailed search of Winston Churchill we find that, far from being the Hero of WWII, his career included the Boer War, where there were concentration camps. Invasion of Russia post Revolution and using poison gas. Using poison gas on Iraqis who, you know, were expecting freedom and democracy after the Ottoman Empire fell. When they rebelled against British rule, Churchill gassed them in the early 1920’s. The there was his deliberate starvation of 3 million Bengalis. I have seen two sources that say he poisoned Roosevelt. And his deliberate plan to attack Russia after WWII (“Operation Unthinkable”) and his initiation of the Cold War. All these based on his view of other people as subhuman. He could easily give some of the other ‘famous monsters’ a run for their money, but for the fact that he wrote the history.

So it is hardly surprising that they’d hire a Stasi to set in motion the future 1984 we’re experiencing. Your observation corroborates the actual history and how we got into this mess. Thanks.

To add to the observation about breaking through the matrix: as a US citizen living overseas for many years, I have also found it is now very difficult to talk with Americans about politics. Education level does not matter, and people who are attached to universities seem the most difficult of all.

The Americans I know have mostly become obsessed with Trump and identity politics. Even people who consider themselves socialists are on the “white privilege is the problem” bandwagon. They loathe the flyover country. They will admit that US foreign policy is terrible, but they don’t want to think about it in any detail, and instead buy into the Russophobia, the demonization of Putin, and believe there’s actually some substance to the whole canard of ” ‘muh Russia hacked ‘muh elections “. They seem run down and depressed by the status quo, but have adopted the most knee-jerky liberal position as protection from it.

In a way, it’s maybe similar to the double think that you describe. People will admit that the US is an empire doing harmful things in the world, but they don’t really question any of the grounds on which this is happening. It’s going to take some major crisis to change their thinking.

Could someone please explain why Russia continues to buy US treasuries?? Washington needs the money so that it can continue to finance Ukraine and ISIS against Russia. How will Russia become financially independent of American sanctions and the SWIFT system if the Russian government continues to buy US government debt.

The large, mass audience is on social media these days so if you want to reach them you have to use their language and the methods they accept most readily. I avoid them as I am old and more than a bit paranoid, but I can understand why, to reach new possible converts, they are unavoidable in these times.

So, as usual, I ran out of gas and couldn’t deliver within the Feb 9-12 Café the Answer to the Riddle I posed, in response to Ioan’s observation that some short term movement of BTC price was “good” for me.

It’s not that hard of a riddle. First of all my approach is far more long term than short term, but more importantly it is far more macrocosmic than microcosmic. Or more “political” ….than personal.

It’s simple: If you think, as I do, that BTC is more likely to go to $500,000 or higher in present dollars…..than it is to disappear…in say 5-10 years, THEN you don’t want it to zoom out of reach before you can “pull the trigger” on locking down the amount of it you’d be pleased to put to one side, and forget about the crypto roller coaster of for enough years for its rise to be life-changing for you…..when you decide….”Ok, OK!! The money is enough….but my TIME …may NOT be enough ……IT…MY TIME…..is running out….at an accelerating rate.”

And then diversify into your travel, your long-delayed dreams, your estate planning for your heirs, OR your deeper political, cultural, spiritual or artistic purpose in life, which might be all of those things wrapped up together.

My hunch is that the invention of blockchain technology is far more likely to serve in liberating humanity and in raising its consciousness to higher levels of responsibility, maturity and wisdom than it is to enslave us, but I don’t know enough to stake my life on that bet….yet.

I am 100% certain that it can transform personal finances of astute observers, including tech insiders and ordinary Joes and Jeannes participating, faster than anything else has in history. How can I be certain?

Because THAT is already an accomplished FACT!! And,we are still, I agree—-very early in the process—-, but so what?? More jerks are probably attracted to quick gains than are the best sorts of people, who spend more energy on caring for others than they do “Looking Out For # 1”.

But sometimes people who care for more than their own ego can do even better, and in a balanced way!
Not easy to do, but it is possible.

I attended a Crypto-Currency Mastermind at mansion in Beverly Hills last weekend. I already had enough basic advice and tools and strategy to get started a few months ago but I wanted to see some real “players” up close.

These more mostly quite impressive people, people who were in the right place at the right time, with the right skills, and I don’t even have the slightest fantasy of 10% catching up to ANY of them!

None were jerks, but they knew plenty of Crypto-Filthy Rich who ARE jerks!

It can go to your head. The organizer of the event, who spent 6 figures in the last year or so travelling around the world to meet the people like the speakers who spoke, to pick their brains and educate himself on this Mega-Trend (as I call it) in a hurry, urged some crypto maniacs, ahead 20 or 50 or 100 million dollars worth to diversify, pull at least 5 or 10 times the original capital out……But Noooo! The ego-maniacs had set their sights on 10 times higher yet. ALL in crypto. Such people are probably lunatics or psychopaths that would be no better than the Rockefellers or Rothschilds, if they got the chance. They want it ALL in the material realm, because they are so poor of heart and spirit.

Those types were NOT among the invited speakers, who ALL urged a plan of taking all principal back out at the earliest opportunity….to still leave enough “on the table” to be life-changing, should the next year or two be as a dynamic as they all forecast.

Why they forecast that we can go into later.

Nobody but your heirs are going to love you if you are an “astute observer” who wakes up and smells the Digital Coffee, and does really, really well. And that’s OK, as far as that (personal finances)goes. But we human beings can go a LOT further than that!

“Love Goes All the Way!”, remember??

That’s why the macro-effects of any phenomenon, whether it be Bitcoin or Belt and Road interest me a great deal more than your money or even my own. Not that those are dirty subjects! No, it’s just that there are far bigger, far more important things! So why not take care of the finances as quickly as possible, and get on to the more important things, rather than spend 70% of your life trading away your most precious asset (TIME!!) for a pay check, or a Just Over Broke (J.O.B.) as they call it in Real Estate “Seminar World”??

What’s “All The Way”?? How far can love go?

Here’s an old guy I’ve known about for almost 40 years, met, shook hands with, and read a very large amount of his and his associates policy output and historical and scientific research, over the decades since. Oddly, for this comment, the contacts I have with full time organizers within LPAC have had NOTHING to say when I inquired of their view of block chain, Bitcoin, etc.

That may come in time but for now, they all seem to be 100% focused on the World Landbridge, (and what others have done, in running with the idea, especially in China and Russia) than they are in the subjects I heard discussed in that event in Beverly Hills 3 days ago.

Anyway, the Old Guy, Lyndon, who has already had a very long and extremely eventful life, and to my direct knowledge IS the intellectual author of the idea of Taking Down the Empire with a Great Power Alliance of Russia (check!), China (check!), USA (ummm…..some are working on that!) and India (ditto) with World Landbridge/OBOR as the required logistical basis for overcoming geopolitics, war, and looting, and ……statistically, he will depart this earth in body, fairly soon. But evidently not in policy effect!

But before he leaves us. Let’s see what he had to say nine years ago, in 2009, when he was already in his mid-eighties:

He discusses the permanent value of your existence, and looks far, far, far ahead of “Bitcoin”. LOL.
But I digress. Blockchain, despite not being discussed yet by his associates (to my knowledge…) is probably part of the journey he discusses.

How big a part? How vital a part? I don’t know!

They didn’t beat the policy drums for the Internet, either. But they sure used it and are continuing to use it. It will be interesting to find out how the Internet of Money interfaces (likely in some fashion, IMHO) or conflicts with these people who are a LOT less concerned with personal finances, than probably 99.999% of the visitors of this Vineyard are.

Anyway, in my opinion, take the longest view be part of the biggest ideas and realities you can stretch your mind to conceive of.

In the meantime, personally, I have an 11 year old and a 16 year old and a wife that still depend on my astuteness for their security and well being, so, since Amarynth invited me to write some things on The Internet of Money, I am going to tell you (in good time) everything I heard and overheard in Beverly Hills last Saturday, and have comprehended and am working on comprehending in regard to what she wrote here

AND what Ramin has hinted at, within socialism (I think there is business capacity within the Persian genome that still flourishes….under ANY “ism”….LOL) and what others are either struggling to make sense of…..OR are ignoring for the moment, in favor of “higher” priorities.

“And up from the ground came a bubblin’ crude!
Oil, that is, Black Gold, Texas Tea!”

Now if only those Arkansas Hillbillies (Clintons, not Clampetts)

had just “moved to Beverly”
—–Instead of Washington D.C!!!
But like Hillary’s Presiden-CY
That just wasn’t meant to be!!

“Praise, God!” as a Persian Private Equity and ICO (Initial Coin Offering) expert at the mansion event remarked, when I told him I was born in Dhahran, but did not like the House of Saud.

Anyway, what were the Crypto-“take-aways” I came away from Beverly Hills and took back home to the OC with me??

1.) It’s still VERY EARLY in a Mega-Trend that may be much more transformational, long term, of civilization in terms of not just “money”….but other applications as well….than 99% of adults in this world yet comprehend. And you are perfectly free to be in the next 1% that “get it” …or the last 1%. Suit yourself!

2.) If you might be interested or just skeptically curious enough to venture into the realm of maybe being in the next 1% , BE GLAD BTC crashed from nearly $20,000 in December to $8625 as I write this, according to https://coinmarketcap.com/ Check all cryptos there, but don’t go crazy watching the roller coaster. Be glad because getting 1-5% of your investable savings that would not kill you if you lost it all ( I doubt that would happen unless you are stupid and practice no security advice……) into BTC-ETH and a bit of a diversified portfolio of Alt-Coins will feel better, short and medium term for those that take a risk-limited dip SOON, rather than those that bought near 20K…in the recent past.

3.) Speakers at the mansion asked paid attendees like myself how many of us had actually read the Bitcoin White Paper or ANY ICO White Paper. Among about 80 people that included quite a few far more savvy, wealthy, technically trained, and experienced in crypto-currency investing than I am, ONE or TWO people raised their hands!! (I wasn’t one of them. And I felt very stupid. But I got the point: Even this crowd were “babes in the woods”.

4.) There are wolves in the woods. Don’t be a babe in the woods. ICO’s are the riskiest with the most ridiculous upsides and downsides. The obvious downsides can be 100% avoided, according to the expert speakers, just by reading the first page or two of some of the most ridiculous ICO White Papers. Yet, most crypto investors are like underage teenagers at a “kegger” (home party featuring beer kegs…international Vineyard Visitors) and roll the dice without reading a single page of ANY White Paper.

5.) The Bitcoin White Paper is a bit technical, but you CAN get through it. I did. After Beverly Hills! Yesterday.LOL. Here it is: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

6.) Attendees asked the opinion of the experts as to what to look for (good and bad) in a White Paper, and what their opinion was of the best example recommendation of a very good, very comprehensible White Paper. The speakers consensus was this one by CIVIC, in its initial Coin Offering for CVC (Civic Coin).

I see what they mean, already. 16 pages. I am on Page 10. Civic was already an existing business in Identity Verification and decided to adapt itself to blockchain technology. A reasonably intelligent person cannot fail to see how this might happen in droves, in many industries, as great value, convenience, efficiency privacy/transparency etc,etc are “up for grabs”. First come first served.

On this one, though it’s very interesting and full of valuable information, have to agree with your thoughts on one thing : Time. This is what we lack of, but hey my friend, not just we the 99,99% of outsiders, even those 0,1% of insiders and those who have enough money to buy half of the world, cause they can’t buy one “tiny” thing : Time. So, we all want some time (some want more, some less) but we all have hope (at some degree) Happy Birthday for You Brother !

Good stuff, Teranam 13. Sober, but exciting article that gives a glimpse of a small part of the coming panorama of possibilities—yet to be tried or even imagined . And, believe it or not, there are sharp, successful people that get part of it, but completely miss the rest.

It’s a real mind stretcher, and most people’s synapses are not even close to being warmed up yet. Either from lack of inclination……or TIME….to warm up,

I’m telling you: It’s STILL EARLY!

I got a text from my partner today. He gets part of it. A couple of months ago I gave him a Trezor hard wallet, and went through an explanation of its workings (extremely secure….unhackable…compact…..an ounce or two that can carry huge wealth within it…..about 1/4 inch thick an inch wide, not even 2 inches long….

“Brilliant!”, he exclaimed. He got it really, really fast. He didn’t need much time, at all.

But today’s text from him said,

“I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal (maybe that’s the problem…he’s already “Old Wealth” LOL….) about a bunch of people setting up computer rigs in Washington State (cheap hydropower….it rains a lot there and they have mountains) to do Bitcoin Mining. WTF is Bitcoin “mining”. It’s ridiculous!”

I texted back:

“Just because it is new to you doesn’t make it ridiculous. To maintain and extend the blockchain of Bitcoin transactions takes maintenance by “proof of work” solutions to computational problems that the blockchain encounters, constantly, with its growth. People who do that work earn some Bitcoin for their trouble, or rather from their investment in powerful computers and the electricity to run them. Why don’t you crack open those books we both ordered copies of, and get up to speed?”

“Thanks for the tutorial.’, He texted back. “You are living the life of Riley. I haven’t had the TIME yet.”

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. Moscow values the efforts that Brussels has been making to help overcome issues in Russia’s relations with the European Union and NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following talks with his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders on Tuesday.

READ ALSO

Lavrov: Europe does not see eye to eye with Washington’s Russia policy
According to Lavrov, there was a rather thorough discussion of the situation in the Euro-Atlantic region, including Russia’s relations with the EU and NATO.

“We value Brussels’ consistent determination to overcome the current issues in relations between Russia and the West, as well as to restore and strengthen trust and boost meaningful dialogue,” Lavrov said.

“We welcome our Belgian partners’ efforts to improve the situation in Europe. In any case, we are facing common threats and challenges,” the Russian foreign minister added, pointing to the “Belgian leadership’s determination to boost dialogue with Russia.”

cos NATO HQ is in Brussels?
Plus sounds like Jordan has been caught out somehow cos

King Abdullah II spoke with TASS about his upcoming talks with Vladimir Putin, Russia-Jordan ties and the true meaning of the word “jihad”

— Your Majesty, thank you very much for the opportunity to meet with you and conduct this interview, just ahead of your visit to Russia. What do you expect from this visit, and your talks with President Vladimir Putin?

Well, first of all, I’m delighted to have you back. We have a long history and I’m really pleased to see you here in Jordan, and to see an old friend.

— Thank you, Your Majesty.

I go to Moscow to see my brother, President Putin, as a friend, a dear friend of his, and as a friend of Russia. I have known the president for almost 20 years. I think the relationship has been built on trust and confidence.

We are obviously here to talk about some bilateral issues, but the main issues are the challenges that we face around the world, and specifically in the past year, the work that Russia and Jordan have done in southern Syria to bring stability to the south. It’s a very good story. I think this has elevated the level of discussions and confidence between our institutions, but more importantly, how do we move the process along in Syria to a political outcome, specifically on the issue of the constitution and elections.

So we are a small voice, but with Russia, this has been a very good 12 months of cooperation, and we are looking forward to discussing how do we move forward aggressively in a positive way for the next 12 months.

Lavrov blasts US, French ‘dishonest’ claims of not having sent delegates to Sochi Congress
Russian Politics & Diplomacy February 13, 17:00 UTC+3
The Syrian National Dialogue Congress was held in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in late January

also saying”Washington is trying to create some quasi-state on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in Syria and these steps are dangerous, he added. “To my mind, the Americans are trying to act through dangerous unilateral steps rather than by way of thoroughly developing general accord,” Lavrov said.”

” The official’s story was challenged by the Volkskrant newspaper, which discovered that despite Zijlstra having been part of Shell’s delegation he was in fact not present at the business meeting in question. Following the revelation the official acknowledged having lied, claiming that he did so in order to protect the actual source, whom he declined to name. ”

Steve Pahs: Your comment brought back memories to me. While not a grunt, I spent a year at Cu Chi , March 3, ’68 to March 2, 69. I volunteered for Viet Nam and was regular army. After, I wished I had volunteered for the draft. I was 05C20 , radio-teletype and really liked it. I volunteered for combat arms and got sent to radio school. Basic in El Paso in the summer( I was from the Navajo Reservation and thought I knew heat), Then FT. Huachuca, Ft Gordon, for AIT. I had volunteered for Airborne, but disvolunteered as my AIT advanced. My AIT was long and I could see the writing on the wall re infantry.
I spent my time with B Co. , 25th Avn. Bn. 25 th Infantry Division, “the Diamondheads.” Gunship support. Next to the flight line, natch. My job was running the company switchboard. I worked very hard while there due to my own naivete and rebelliousness. I rebuilt the commo bunker on my own, was real gung ho, then ran afoul of a new first sergeant after about six months. I had friends in the wolf hounds, 1/5th and would go to visit when they came in from the field and listen to music. Most of them were from west coast and had great japanese taperecorders.
We were divided into the hippies and juicers. One of my friends visited in our company and the first sergeant said “I dont’ know whether to kiss it or kill it!” I got so jjpissed off I let him have it. (My friend had long hair but he was a good squad leader! Things went down hill from there. I was eventually busted to private and j put on the 25th infantry divisions shit detail for all . the military sluts.And worked like a dog. Got a hernia building bunkers. Hurt my right side falling on my rifles magazine while fetching grenades while some vc guy was harassing us on the bunker line with a machine gun.
We were close to headquarters and the hospital. I tell you I got my eyes opened about how the us wages war. Out supply sergeant who was investigated by the CID the whole time i was there upbraided me in the company area a few days before my ets. I gave him military courtesy and he explained to me he had been covering fore me for months and keeping me from LBJ (LOng Binh jail). The whole company started talking about how staley was giving military courtesy to Sgt. Watkins. So I determined when I rotated to be a straight troop. And the good sgt. had friends in headquarteres who tore up by bust orders so I rotated back as sp/4.
But I was put on riot control in Seatlle summer of 69 and that was it foer me.I deserted. I knew Ifd I didn’t go then I would ne er go. I have to say it has been hell. I was into the army for a while. I lived in canada for almost 50 years and have to say I have been a tortured soul but have to confess that I’m glad I never read the Divine Comedy till a couple of weeks ago (I wrote and abbgreviated prose poem along that linme) Because Dante’s viion of hell is spot on! But as the saying goes, “Wheter your worshjip takes you to hell or heaven, what boots it? The most high is there! And I’d rather do my hell now. Cheers!

I hope I don’t overdo. I think and hope I’ve done just enough. I’m a 68 year old grandfather of an awesome family living where I want and I have had many a laugh along the way and hope and pray for many more. Just one Vietnam nam vet soldier totally changed by cu chi and set on a course of spiritual and for a time physical exile so dantes work resonates with me.

Lasttruebeliever!
What a great response. Thank you. I could almost smell the Sh__ burning in those half barrels. Ahhh….Base Camp Cu Chi. We were in wood deck squad tents WHEN we were in camp. I envied the REMF’s because you got stateside beer. (I was 3 months short of 21 when I ETS -ed and couldn’t get served when I got home!)
The hardest part of combat was taking orders from humans I had little confidence in and my life was in their hands. In the movie “Who’ll Stop The Rain?”, Nick Nolte said, “I’m tired of taking sh__ from inferior people”. I was.
I salute you for your principled stand and damn the consequences. You paid a large price. When I got home in March of 68′, an older brother invited me to go on a bear hunt in Canada above Georgian Bay below Sudbury. When we arrived in that area near a small town, there was a dreary, sodden camp of pup tents with American draft resisters that looked like wet cats. I remember feeling that they had more courage than I. And, by the way, no bear showed up and I was good with not shooting if one did. I was like that in Nam. It nearly cost me my life on several occasions. After many close calls and grenade exchanges at close range at night on LP’s, I was wounded at five months by “friendly fire”. Probably saved my life as I had bone damage to my right forearm that put me in Japan and reassignment to Okinawa.
My son and family live in Snohomish Wa and I have friends on Salt Spring Island BC. I do a couple trips a year out there from Indiana. Are you in that Vicinity? if so , maybe we could get together without broadcasting our personal info.
Steve Pahs

Thank you Steve, Ioan, and Mundomaniac for your kind words. I live in the CNP/Elk Vallley . And have been to Salt Spring and like it. I went to a mini family reunion in Colorado and my younger brother got me drinking Jim Beam and toking on Colorado bud and had a phone and mic and got me “telling my story” for their church’s veteran’s faith based stories or some such thing. I talked for an hour and a half. I haven’t had the nerve to watch it yet. Id did it last summer. You Steve could watch it or start. Or someone could. My kids haven’t either. Kind of like returning to the scene of a crime.
I like Dennis too. I was a nurse in cowboy country here for 32 years picking up people, delivering babies, etc. Married a coal miners daughter. Coal mining is big here.
You take care. From a REMF who knows what that means and truly remembers the burning s—. Rob

Don’t know whether you will see this but I have a prose poem on tumblr called Jimi, Blue, and God. It is 54 verses long, inspired by Rimbaud, Mallarme, Baha u llah’s hidden words. Kind of a “white indian boy (a spiritual “halfer” as my daughter in law might term me) meets Empire and the “american way”. Blue meets JImi in Cu Chi and is forever changed. I did it before I actually read Dante because I had an accurate intuition of why he called it a comedy and I didn’t want to be overly influenced by him. Another more abbreviated called “incantatory V(k)erses from a raging heart” under “The Lying Imposter”, and 14 lyrics dedicated to cursing the empire and her men. Ioan once posted the links I think. I have to say that the most high doesn’t like cursing much. But we all know that.

The county is inspecting us again for violations of the zoning laws. I am in violation, living here in a motor home. The owner himself is in violation since his house burned down; and to live on his own land, he needs a residence. For now he is living in his bus and car. It’s inane but property rights trump the needs of people in an insane society.

I’ve gone through inspections twice before, and the clean-ups required to comply. We’re notified of the day of inspection. On that day we leave and convert living spaces to storage and work areas. If we’re lucky, the inspectors are half-way human, and are not overly strict, overlooking the obvious game that is being played. However, the current inspector was here on a preliminary visit; and the owner says she’s a “meanie.”

If I have to move, I think I’ll move back to Wisconsin where my family is. I don’t like the cold winters but now with age, sore back and ribs, I can’t do much anyway until I heal, if I ever do. Rents are high in Ojai, if I can even get a decent one, even for a room; and I don’t like moving in with another family, with all their programmed anxieties and unfulfilled needs. If I didn’t give away half my money, I could afford a nice apartment, but why support a corrupt structure?

All this stress and uncertainty has a positive side, which moves me to seek help where help may be found. For me, that is Love, which leads me into the realm of theology: the spiritual home I was raised in, while sojourning in my various temporary homes. There’s nothing like pain to focus the mind, and then seek relief, like in theology.

I have a degree in theology from my seminary days, but I’m an “armchair cafe theologian,” which is more to my taste. Theology is said to be the “queen of the sciences,” the most powerful piece on a chessboard. That may be, but the king for me is “Loverology,” which is not into power per se, but as the name implies, is about the Order of Love, founded on The Lover, who is all of us as lovers.

No one but a fool would enter this arena on a site like this, where angels fear to tread. Therefore, preambles and disclaimers; philosophical background information and psychological preparation are required; none of which will satisfy or soothe thousands of years of ingrained habitual thought and feeling.

The following, coming up in Part 2, if I can successful paste it, is my personal opinion, based on my research. I add to that my reasoned intuition and seventy-eight years of experience; plus my initiations and ordinations in old age and new age religions, and dabbling in human potential and psychologies of all descriptions, while working and raising a family.

In any event, writing is my ventilation shaft and safety valve, a substitute gratification and compensatory device, while waiting on the real deal to appear out of the anticipatory traces and glimpses of wordless love and unalloyed truth. In the meantime, one of my comforts is this vineyard oasis in a wasteland of broken dreams.

Dennis, or should I say “Father”?
I’ve never addressed you on this site that I can recall, but you have been on my mind of late. There is a saying, “Adversity does not build character, it reveals it”. Mine was revealed in war. Result: I like me. I’ve come to like you.
I’m 71 and hope I have your strength if I have to face at 78 what you have. When I was in war, I wore around my neck a circular Rosary made by my favorite uncle , Father Al Phillips. He was a WWII Army Chaplain, European
Theater. He was the BEST! He would show up at our Indiana farm of eleven kids (he was my mom’s brother) in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, always driving a Studebaker. We’d dam the creek for swimming, cook over open fires, make my mom crazy by driving like a maniac with us kids hanging out the windows or trunk! He taught himself how to play an accordion and rock the house with “Dem’ Bones gonna Rise Again”. When we played hide’ n seek he’s sneeze in the barn and we’d find him easy. God we laughed. I miss him so………I was in a terrible situation in an operation about 40 miles upstream from Saigon in January of 67′ when I got two letters where we were dug in. The first was a “Dear John”. The second was from my mom. Father Al and another Priest had died in Arizona when the camper truck they were traveling in asphyxiated them on a cool night when a heating vent malfunctioned. I was numb. It was maybe my first “Red Pill” moment. I can’t remember if it was before or after the “letter” when a Priest came in to our position there and I ‘served” mass in the jungle. I know I thought of Father Al. I’m thinking of you now. It’s never too late to go home. I did.
Steve Pahs

If I may be so bold, I would venture to say that this Vineyard is founded on the ideas of Orthodox and Catholic, meaning True and Universal. If these ideas were practiced fully, we would fulfill our mission of stopping war on Russia and all wars.

The great dogmas of Christianity are newly sprouted seeds, awaiting development. Development from what? From Nature Herself. I start by correcting the false split between the Natural and Supernatural, which drives a wedge into the heart of Human Nature and Reality.

I develop the idea of God according to the theology of Saint John the Beloved, who stated: “God is Love.” 1 John 4:8. In my mind, wherever the word God appears, I draw a line through it and write Love. Note that I do not erase God; he still is clearly seen. God is real but he assumes his true name which is Love.

The dogma of Revelation is restored to its natural meaning. Love reveals herself to us continually; whether we heed the Revealing is quite another matter.

Scripture is likewise reset within its natural base. We read from the Book of Nature directly, in our own body and surrounding natural environment. The wisdom of Scripture is not discarded, but interpreted according to natural metaphors.

Tradition and the transmission of Revelation and ordained representatives is authorized by Saint John’s doctrine of love. In other words, people of proven love carry the torch from one age to the next, from Jesus who was fully human back to our Lover Ancestors who also were fully human.

What I am saying is no doubt heresy and anathema to established religion, and not so long ago I would have been burned at the stake, like Joan of Arc. In my opinion establishment religion is protecting its vested interests, and has no desire for Orthodox Truth or Catholic Universality.

Theology (Order of God) is elevated to its true and universal mission of supporting and defending the Order of Love, and thereby supports our Vineyard mission of stopping war. The contrary holds: false theology cannot stop war and in fact enables it.

Few will know what I’m talking about, unless they’re formal or informal theologians. No matter, if truth is spoken, it will be heard by those to whom it concerns. If it’s false, then there’s no reason to react, unless there’s something to protect, with more weight than freedom of speech.

Another great dogma is the Incarnation of Christ, which means that God incarnated, or took human flesh. These are enigmatic mysteries, until we put them into their natural setting. It simply means that spirits or souls take on a human body. Those who wish to keep God separated and aloof, are distrustful of full humanity, especially sexuality. A psychological speculation is that patriarchs seek to be gods themselves, an unconscious desire played out in modern politics at the highest eschelons.

I was raised with God as the ultimate authority. I suppose I had some affection for God and he for me, but on the whole our relationship was based on fear, punishment, guilt and power, with me the powerless one. Nowadays, it’s much the same, but there’s been a transfer of authority to the all powerful State and its power of enforcement through corrupted money. Except at the very beginning of our species, State and Religion have been wedded and bedded together, and still are, despite the democratic separation on paper; only it’s now covered up and well hidden from view.

One of my favorite dogmas is the Mother of God. Imagine that: God had a mother. I don’t know how that one slipped by the patriarchal censors; probably from the force of popular devotion and common sense, since we all have mothers. The teaching makes God more human; no wonder I like God, despite the way he treated me.

I would like to develop theology and make it a powerful force for good, which I think it was for the most part, and still is for some. By its teaching on the eternal soul, it paved the way for respect for all persons and was responsible for much of our freedom today. I speak not of the mainline institutions, but of their priceless teachings within their obvious human deficiencies.

I find more juice in these old traditions, despite their failures, than in tons of bitcoins or a million miles of obor railings. This world was designed for us to be lovers in an Eden Paradise but we chose to be killers instead, by commission or omission, carefully covered by entertaining drama of all stripes.

If the spirit moves me, I’ll move with it and continue the theology thread. I won’t stop looking in at the drama of this passing shadow of a world, in all its delights and beauties; and their opposites. Time to run; it’s been fun.

Yeah, my sense of ZH is that they put articles out very quickly, often without much reflection let alone proofreading. They tend to hyperbolize, which is part of the “doom porn” angle.

It’s a decent news channel for those interested in a critical view on markets, global finance, and US foreign policy, and the comments are often funny (albeit totally incorrect). For deeper, more informed articles on the RF and foreign policy, though, I come here to the Vineyard :D

Tyler Durdon, played by Brad Pit (Jewish), is the main character in David Fincher’s (Jewish) cult movie ‘Fight Club’. The movies martial art adviser was an ex-Mossad close combat trainer (Jewish). Hollywood itself is the Jewish Mafia’s biggest film production asset. Need I say more?

Zero Hedge is a Jewish Mafia limited hangout. The ‘100 Russian Fighters Killed’ fake news story was seeded by Rothschild-Reuters and quickly metastasized to the usual ZionMedia organs. Yawn.

Well, yes, you need to say a lot more. With all due respect, you’re reading way too much into this film. This way of interpreting “Fight Club” wouldn’t even fly in a college film course, let alone as serve as a basis for passing judgment on a web site like ZH.

I don’t know, I think smr’s “reading” of this film (haven’t seen it, never will, life’s too short!) is pretty straightforward compared to film school papers I used to read (and, sadly, write). Without post-modern jargon, the analysis lacks that eau de parfume of the “real article.” Really, Western Liberal film school interpretations way overrated.

India wont intervene because the problem in Maldives is an internal judicial-political one. An intervention would look like a foreign nation meddling in other nations’ internal affairs. Last time when India intervened, it was because the legitimate government asked India for help because of a coup with the help of foreign mercenaries from sri lanka against the Maldivian government.

The current Indian intervention news was blown out of proportion because the ex-president sitting in sri lanka expressed that India should intervene militarily otherwise china would gain influence (Surprisingly he was the one who welcomed chinese investments and gave the chinese access to Maldives during his term). This was picked by the Indian media as a sign of India gaining power and world recognition that a foreign nation is asking for intervention, thought it was just an ex-president who asked for it. China in turn expressed that intervention was not the right thing to do for an internal conflict within a nation.

Indian policy is to keep the indian ocean island nations into its sphere of influence, which is getting eroded rather too quickly, to counter China’s growing influence. The chinese need the Maldives to implement its grand project of silk road v2.0 and insure the safety of the maritime as well as land silk route for which it also needs to build navy and military bases on foreign territories. Since the Chinese bases will be built on the territories through which the silk route passes and these territories surround India (Indian could have been included has it not rejected the OBOR), the Indians see it as China strategically encircling India. China is gaining an upper hand with its big reserves and capabilities to invest with win-win deals and will continue to build its influence because the west and india dont have the ability to compete with china in terms of investments.

India cannot partner with China because of the land disputes and a war between the two nations. India also rejected OBOR and CPEC because of the same. The election of the right wing government added to the cracks in relationship of india with its neighbors. The rightwing government needs a boogeyman to mask its inefficiency and they can do it by blaming all problems on China and muslims.

As for Oman giving access to its port to india, india already had a presence in oman due to its navy’s anti-piracy operations. The port has heavy chinese investments plus there is a project by the Chinese to transform the port city into the next Dubai. So Oman cannot afford to anger china. This news is again being played out heavily by the Indian media by labeling it as an indian answer to gadwar port.

Indian will be going into election in 2019 and the ruling party which won the last election has not fulfilled any of its promises so it needs some face saving. The Indian media has to run pro-government propaganda to survive so it is glorifying anything that it can get hold of.

“As the wealthy continue sucking the country dry, the question now isn’t if the US will cease to provide a decent standard of living for its people. Rather it is how many people will be sacrificed on the way down.

“I met with many people barely surviving on Skid Row in Los Angeles, I witnessed a San Francisco police officer telling a group of homeless people to move on but having no answer when asked where they could move to, I heard how thousands of poor people get minor infraction notices which seem to be intentionally designed to quickly explode into unpayable debt, incarceration, and the replenishment of municipal coffers. I saw sewage-filled yards in states where governments don’t consider sanitation facilities to be their responsibility, I saw people who had lost all of their teeth because adult dental care is not covered by the vast majority of programs available to the very poor, I heard about soaring death rates and family and community destruction wrought by opioids, and I met with people in Puerto Rico living next to a mountain of completely unprotected coal ash which rains down upon them, bringing illness, disability and death.”

The sewage-filled yards were found in poor areas like Lowndes County, Alabama, where many people cannot afford to install septic tanks, causing sewage to pool by their homes. This untreated waste creates the potential for all kinds of diseases. In Lowndes, it has led to the proliferation of hookworm, a parasitic disease of the intestines commonly found in the world’s poorest developing countries.

The discovery of third world levels of poverty and disease in the richest and most powerful country in the world, shocking as it may be, is only part of the story. The UN findings are in keeping with the downward spiral of America.

Spending time in Western Europe, as I have done the last several months, provides some serious perspective on America’s decline. In most European countries, like Germany for example, public transportation works efficiently and there is a social safety net. While homelessness is a problem, it’s nowhere near as rampant as in the US and usually seems to be associated with addiction. People in Europe are generally much healthier and happier, housing and food and higher education are affordable and people don’t spend all their time working – they are able to take vacations and enjoy life in a way the vast majority of Americans are not. Europeans are typically entitled to lengthy paid maternity leave, whereas in the US working class women are forced to return to work in as little as two weeks.”

In Baltimore dozens of schools had no heat during record freezing temperatures this winter. The only thing America’s leadership seems capable of investing in is prisons and war.

In many European countries people are entitled to pensions and they can retire comfortably. In the US some have to work until they die as Social Security isn’t enough to live on and Medicare doesn’t quite cover all of their medical needs. As for healthcare, as many as 45,000 people a year die because they cannot access it.

And then there is the issue of water. There are over 3,000 counties across America whose water supplies have lead levels higher than in Flint, Michigan, and nothing substantial is being done to address the problem.

Researchers say the life expectancy gap, as high as 20.1 years between rich and poor counties, resembles the gap seen between low-income countries versus rich countries.

It seems that the US in many ways, after having destroyed other parts of the world, has turned inward on itself, sacrificing its most vulnerable citizens at the altar of capitalism.

All empires fall after all. And Donald Trump is accelerating the process. His Republican tax plan was a massive giveaway to the rich. It even included a special tax cut for private jet owners. The US might have the highest child poverty and infant mortality rates in the developed world, but the political class believe private jet owners deserve a break!”

“Aside from wanting to privatize the International Space Station and eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, Trump is also looking to cut food assistance programs by $214 billion. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program is also going to be cut by $21 billion.

While both Medicaid and Medicare say goodbye to $250 billion and $550 billion, respectively, in Trump’s budget, military spending will see an increase of $777 billion. In short, the Trump administration is looking to swing its MAGA-branded axe at social programs that help poor Americans, some of which might have even voted for Trump, in order to toss more money to military contractors.”

“The Trump budget is an absolute disaster for America’s endangered species,” CBD Endangered Species Director Noah Greenwald said. “The American wolverine and Sierra Nevada red fox are among the hundreds of species that could be lost if this reckless proposal becomes law.”

The president’s spending plan, if approved by Congress, would cut budgets for habitat and endangered species protection from $20.5 million to just under $11 million, the release said.

The cuts could mean extinction for some of the more than 500 species awaiting protection decisions from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the release added.

Since the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, at least 46 species have gone extinct waiting for protection, including most recently the Beaverpond marstonia snail, according to the release.”

Yeah, but that $9 mil saved could go to something zionazis profit from…

We are born to love and not to hate
Since time began it was our fate
To rise above the earth and inspire
Life that is lower into what is higher
Exploring space and grasping time
Sweet Valentine someday you’ll be mine.

(symnk)

And from the inspirational Chi-chi Nwanoku, double bass player and founder of Europe’s first professional majority black and minority ethnic orchestra, Chineke :

We’re all born musicians, since the beginning of time we’ve communicated with each other through a series of rhythms and signs. Every one of us has a heart beat that connects us to the earth.

And from the heart of Wales, the great poet, Dylan Thomas :

Poem In October

It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Woke to my hearing from harbour and neighbour wood
And the mussel pooled and the heron
Priested shore
The morning beckon
With water praying and call of seagull and rook
And the knock of sailing boats on the net webbed wall
Myself to set foot
That second
In the still sleeping town and set forth.

My birthday began with the water-
Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name
Above the farms and the white horses
And I rose
In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.
High tide and the heron dived when I took the road
Over the border
And the gates
Of the town closed as the town awoke.

A springful of larks in a rolling
Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling
Blackbirds and the sun of October
Summery
On the hill’s shoulder,
Here were fond climates and sweet singers suddenly
Come in the morning where I wandered and listened
To the rain wringing
Wind blow cold
In the wood faraway under me.

Pale rain over the dwindling harbour
And over the sea wet church the size of a snail
With its horns through mist and the castle
Brown as owls
But all the gardens
Of spring and summer were blooming in the tall tales
Beyond the border and under the lark full cloud.
There could I marvel
My birthday
Away but the weather turned around.

It turned away from the blithe country
And down the other air and the blue altered sky
Streamed again a wonder of summer
With apples
Pears and red currants
And I saw in the turning so clearly a child’s
Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother
Through the parables
Of sun light
And the legends of the green chapels

And the twice told fields of infancy
That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine.
These were the woods the river and sea
Where a boy
In the listening
Summertime of the dead whispered the truth of his joy
To the trees and the stones and the fish in the tide.
And the mystery
Sang alive
Still in the water and singingbirds.

And there could I marvel my birthday
Away but the weather turned around. And the true
Joy of the long dead child sang burning
In the sun.
It was my thirtieth
Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon
Though the town below lay leaved with October blood.
O may my heart’s truth
Still be sung
On this high hill in a year’s turning.

Pierre Le Corf has given me permission to share this video which he sent in response to the usual questions from a reporter who has rarely set foot into the alternative reality that is the reality of the Syrian people who have endured 7 years of Internationally armed and financed terrorism in their country. Pierre wanted me to explain his exhaustion and emotion after 2 years of living among these people. When I asked the reporter what he thought of this video, he told me “it gives me food for thought” – honestly, as if he were choosing a new colour paint for his kitchen. He also told me that after 7 years, he might consider going to Syria to actually speak to the Syrian people… after he has maligned all those who have attempted to present the real “uncropped” image of the conflict in Syria. I am, personally so proud to call Pierre my friend and I have seen, first hand, his dedication to the people of Aleppo and Syria. Those who can watch this video and not be profoundly moved by it are those who have never cared about the Syrian people, nor about their right to live the life they choose. Thank you Pierre for the heart you bring to the truth.

Now we just need a Russian version of everything else, but this is a good start:

Russian Deputy PM: Our Banks Are Ready To Turn Off SWIFT

“Certainly, it is unpleasant, as it will prove a stumbling block for companies and banks, and will slow down work. However, the companies are technically and psychologically ready for the shutdown as this threat was repeatedly voiced…”

A gem to listen to, the words are ‘glossolalia,’ a very interesting word in itself and well-covered in Wikipedia (to whom I occasionally send a tenner for support, despite its inadequacies, as it often supports my own.)

RE: Obama’s Official State Portrait and controversy about the number of fingers on the left hand. The metaphor is that he is literally “giving the finger” to everyone ( ha-ha, cute “in” joke) but also the alternate interpretation is that he has two left hands ( snicker, snicker if you “get” that one–you really are in on the secret).

Black lodge stuff—no kidding…it can make you a bit crazy if you do not ground yourself in consensus reality.

Which is the due reward for the American people? for all the sufferings brought to bear so heedlessly upon the peoples of the world? Can we say like the Germans who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged off and their fellow trade unionists gunned down in the streets—well we did not know! We had no idea!

Or we say today we could have known yet chose not to know. The truth was all just a click away. But the foggy, groggy dew was so much more delightful.

The first comment by Eric resonates with me as one of vital importance. My Mentor Man, Bro, states: “Important comment, Eric.” So there you have it. I’ve read the article Eric refers to, and was quite taken with it.

We speak frequently of “Anglo-Zionism,” a term popularized, if not authored, by Saker. It certainly is a force to be reckoned with, and understood. I call it the “Jew-Brits” complex, which contrasts with “The BRICS.” I read Miles Mathis who fleshes out just how extensive this peerage network is.

Bro relates how his best man at his wedding in Santa Cruz in 2000 was a Jew. A friend of Bro’s would likely be a friend of mine. My friend, the landlord here, is a Jew, and quite critical of the system, and of the worst kind of Jews. My main man is a Jew, Jesus by name.

Eric quotes IIan Pappe who thinks the biggest cause of anti-Semitism is anti-goyism. How true. The Jews hated the Romans and the whole Greco-Roman culture which surrounded them. The Maccabees fought a war against the Greeks and kicked them out for a hundred years. Zealot Jews fought two major wars against the Romans, killing 50,000 Roman soldiers in the first one, and who knows how many casualties themselves.

Jewish hatred for Goys runs deep, and is no doubt embedded deeply in all Jews, even Bro’s best man, if we could plumb the depths of political Cause and Consequence. IIan, Eric, the best man, and so many other “good” Jews, are reacting against the deep implants of anti-goyism, because they’re infected by it, and wish to eradicate it, in my opinion.

Jews were not the first (Zoroastrianism?), but they lived and died for Monotheism. In the first Palestine “final solution,” God commanded his chosen people to utterly destroy the tribes who were residing there: men, women, children, animals, shrines and idols. The surrounding nations were Multi-polar, worshiping literally millions of gods. Jews are a totalitarian, class tribe of “Chosen Ones,” opposed to the “Rejected Ones.”

This hard-core, cultish dogma is so outrageous that it has to be carefully concealed from good Jews like the best man. The vast majority of good Jews either keep silent or flock to Jewish congresses and fund-raising organizations. A few do speak out, and are allowed to do so in order to give the appearance of diversity.

But, oh, what shall we say about the hidden drivers of the Jew-Brit complex? There are no words to describe such evil, not even Satanic. My method is to tell stories with characters like Count Khazar and Countess Zioness, antagonists; opposed by protagonists like The Chief and Lady Love, backed by the Love Army and Bower. Pope Peter the Second waits in the wings to see how the Trump Revolution will go.

The war we fight is played out on earth, but ultimately is spiritual, involving “spirits of the air,” as Saint Paul called them. Hence, the importance of Theology, being pursued here.

Eric makes a pertinent observation by calling attention to Jewish “double think.” Jew-Brits are secular but they use religion as a cover, like Khazaria did a thousand years ago by adopting a neutral Judaism as protection from the Byzantines, Muslims, Russians and Franks who surrounded them. And yes, there are true believing Jews who want to rebuild the Zion Temple destroyed by the Romans in Jerusalem. They, too, await the outcome of the Trump Revolution.

As Eric points out, Jews are caught in a paradoxical narrative. There is a way out of this undistributed middle, horns of the dilemma contradiction. The extremes are Chosen and Not Chosen, a false proposition, based on a patriarchal God, rather than a God of Love.

Distribute the middle; take the bull by the horns, and see the bull in the middle–that’s what we’re dealing with: his penal, penile, pizzle of Patrix Patriarchy. Using a theology of love, develop the story according to a love narrative. God chooses and loves all people in their wondrous diversity. All peoples and individuals are chosen for their unique qualities.

It is a multi-polar world full of many gods, humans, animals and earthly phenomena. But it is also uni-polar with an Absolute Truth at the Center; up to now called God, but hereafter known as Love. That’s going to be a bitter pill to swallow for many, but Justice will have it so. “Eden is burning and your heart must have the courage of the changing of the guards.” Come on, Jews, stand for truth, and reject the notion that you are the only chosen ones; get rid of the class system–good riddance!

The Religion of Love is a Revolution of Love (ROL on ROL). When she comes steppin’ in, we’re gonna rock and roll, alright, day and night. The world will never be the same. It will be built on a solid Rock with plenty of Rollin’ in Eden, which in the original Hebrew and translated Greek, means “pleasure where water flows.” A whole theology of sexuality flows from that, but let that pass for now.

And you know why this is going to come to pass? Because this Vineyard asked for it by its banner of “Stop the Empire’s War on Russia.” The Love Army Commander (not I, Bro) saw that writing on the Cafe wall, and decided it was time to mobilize, using this very vineyard. We do get what we ask for.

I saw that banner. You saw it too. It was love at first sight. That’s why I’m going to make it and you will make it too; we will make it through.

I’m gonna raise an army of tough sons of bitches
I’m recruiting the army from the old religious
I’ve been to Saint Her-man’s and said my religious vows
I’ve stood on the driving-edge of a thousand bows
(The Poet modified by a Learyism)

Man, I’m uncomfortable. I strained my back two days ago, lifting stones, shoveling dirt and carrying water. I brought it on myself, and Bingo, instant karma. I was preparing for the county inspection, which still has not materialized. I can hardly walk, the pain is constant, except for when I sleep, where turning over is well nigh impossible. Am I complaining? Yes, and explaining that we get what we deserve–there is Justice.

I’ve had these things happen throughout my later life, broken hip, humerus, collarbone and wrist, plus a couple of surgeries; I’ve always recovered but now at my age it takes longer. When I look at my naked body at the club, I can read my whole history. The Empire’s war is personal and it shows in my body. Fortunately, my internal organs are still functioning well, although at a much slower pace.

It’s time to get on to the next segment of my life, literally now one step at a time. Enjoyed the conversation, disparate in time and space as it is. Who knows; perhaps everything is really happening all at once. [This paragraph is misplaced; should be at the end].

There is a reason for it. Like commiseration for those who have pain a thousand times worse; and the pleasure that comes with relief and healing. The personal is the political. In my own circumstances, I see the world’s. “How I got this far nobody knows, or how I survived so many blows.” The Poet. I don’t need pity or acknowledgement; let me feel what I have done to me.

A brief reprise follows of my reading of this cafe so far; unfortunately leaving out so much:

Bro says: “Love goes all the way.” Yes, she does. I’d hate to go the way of Jesus, but I was raised with the crucifix, one in every room; in my sister’s case, it’s still the case. I can’t imagine why anyone would expose their children to such a fearsome icon. Yet, there is a great theological truth therein; just consider the real world today. The joy is that there is a Resurrection. Someone back there knew human psychology and history well.

Bro relates a high level meeting in Beverly Hills with bitcoin types. I don’t understand how it works but I have a gut reaction against it. I wonder if any of them heard of Natalya Kasperky’s allegation that US deep state cryptographers started it. Would bitcoiners even care?

lasttruebeliever describes the Nam hellhole. I missed it since I was a priest at the time. Saw the caskets coming back; may have had one of the funerals. I remember Rocky Bleier, war hero and halfback for the Steelers when I visited his room above the corner bar by the church; I was impressed by his muscular, fit body. I was so naive about war. Later, I worked as a nurse in the VA with Nam vets. I heard about the horrors and heroes. Thanks for your kind words.

Thanks, too, to Steve Pahs, for his kind words, and the story of Father Al. Brought tears to my eyes. Ditto to one minion for the lovely Gaelic song; takes me back to County Clare by the Shannon, where I lived for a year; and heard the songs in the pubs.

vot tak’s links to articles about the degradation in the US, and Trump’s role in it makes me think again about him. He’s following the capitalist model which promises to raise all boats…eventually. I think the communist socialist model is even worse, one of the reasons I favor Trump. Maybe, just maybe, if he can drain the swamp, he’ll be proven partially correct. I don’t trust either alt-right or left, so what is left? Well, plenty in that undistributed middle, which I call Love.

some one you may not know gives a Dylan Thomas poem. Sounds so much like Bob Dylan, that I believe Bob took his name from Dylan. There’s so much beauty from the poets, dreamers, analysts, star gazers, humorists and humanists here at the Vineyard and Cafe, for which I’m indebted.

Dennis I just wanted to clarify something. Viet Nam itself wasn’t the hell hole. It was my naivete in thinking that if I came home and did the right thing things would be good. Well, they were. But one cannot avoid hell. I think the whole revealed religions’ fear of, and admonishment of the fire is good, but no longer appropriate. And where Dante is most profound is his understanding of hell and his placing of so many worthy people in it. And there is no denying of the reality of the torture of the spirit one endures in exile (which is suffering at the very edge of hell). In my lyric “True Commander” I try to express that.And now I am not in exile. I am home. Praise allah!
I am sorry about your back. I know what it’s like having lifted many a patient and straining mine.
And I really love your your letters. Keep them coming. And peace to you and yours.

The Germans told the Brits they couldn’t supply a long war. Brits said not to worry and set up the Belgium Relief Commission, a private operation to buy and ship supplies through Belgium to Germany from 1914 to end of war.

Nurse Clavell, tending allied casualties in occupied Belgium, wrote her UK nursing society of this treachery … duly published, and the UK immediately demanded that the Germans arrest her and shoot her. Which they did.

The death of the Nurse Clavell caused a firestorm in Britain, costing Germans the propaganda battle.

At the battle of Aubers early in the war, the Brits lost 11,000 soldiers and the Germans lost 200 soldiers. Who needs artillery, right?

General Haig, Brit Commander Westerner Front for most of the war, applied his soldiers liberally to every battle, thus provided long casualty lists, pleasing the bankers no end. In fact, when PM Lloyd George tried to replace Gen. Haig, the bankers wouldn’t allow it.

“Dutch citizens will soon be receiving letters asking them whether they want to be put on an organ donation list. Those who fail to reply twice will automatically be added, as the Netherlands passes a new donor law.”

Well, they’re welcome to anything of mine that is left over but I expect everything to be completely used up by then.
Not sure if this will get past the Mods, the Dropkick Murphys and the typical Irish wake, ‘Going out in style’:

“The daughter of Russian UFC heavyweight Alexey Oleynik was among the students caught up in the Florida high school mass shooting which left 17 people dead on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old MMA fighter took to social media on Wednesday following the news of the deadly shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

“We’ve faced it. A prosperous neighborhood, good school, safety… And then you see your child running from the school filmed by the helicopter camera, while watching news about deadly shooting in school. I turned the sound off.

“Don’t want to make further comments,” Oleynik wrote in Russian in an Instagram post.

The fighter’s eldest daughter, Polina Oleynik, escaped unharmed, and the post includes muted video clips showing the girl first hugging her mother and then being interviewed by a local news channel.

Oleynik, his wife and their four children spend most of their time Moscow, but often travel to the States, where the Russian fighter trains for UFC bouts at the Florida-based American Top Team MMA gym.”

Given the trauma this barbaric act likely has on the infant (e.g., see Stephan Porges’ “Polyvagal Theory”) and society if one includes the blood drinking it perhaps time this matter was brought into the open.

Mention of Islam is made but male circumcision in Islam is part of a conscious rite to adulthood for the young teenager. No mention is made of the Christian Orthodox views although Catholic comment is provided under human rights to practice religion etc.

It is hardly biblical and certain aboriginal tribes in south western Australia practiced it while others did not based (it seems) largely on climatic circumstances — i.e., desert/non-desert respectively (see the “circumcision line”).

“I swear to God, if it wasn’t for all those who have laid down their lives for this, I would say let’s go back to the way it was before,” one man told me. “We had a better life then; we had more opportunities.”

Alex Jones of Infowars is having a laugh about Mueller literally “indicting a ham sandwich” in reference to the Russian internet catering company. And he is chortling about them being blamed for the “Hilary for Prison” meme when he created it in 2015 and sold over 100,000 tee shirts from Infowars.

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